Pop culture critic RazörFist torched Dune: Part Two director Denis Villeneuve as well as Hollywood at large for Villeneuve’s recent comments about dialogue in movies.
Denis Villeneuve speaking at the 2017 San Diego Comic Con International, for “Blade Runner 2049”, at the San Diego Convention Center in San Diego, California. Photo Credit: Gage Skidmore from Peoria, AZ, United States of America, CC BY-SA 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0>, via Wikimedia Commons
While promoting Dune: Part Two in an interview with The Times UK, Villeneuve admitted he hates dialogue in movies.
“Frankly, I hate dialogue,” he said. “Dialogue is for theatre and television. I don’t remember movies because of a good line, I remember movies because of a strong image. I’m not interested in dialogue at all.”
Villeneuve continued, “Pure image and sound, that is the power of cinema, but it is something not obvious when you watch movies today. Movies have been corrupted by television.”
Austin Butler as Feyd-Rautha as Dune: Part Two (2024), Warner Bros. Pictures
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He later revealed, “In a perfect world, I’d make a compelling movie that doesn’t feel like an experiment but does not have a single word in it either.”
“People would leave the cinema and say, ‘Wait, there was no dialogue?’ But they won’t feel the lack.”
When asked if he would adapt Dune Messiah without dialogue, Villeneuve answered, “I would absolutely adore that.”
Timothée Chalamet as Paul Atreides in Dune: Part Two (2024), Warner Bros. Pictures
Pop Culture critic RazörFist reacted to Villeneuve’s comments and posted on X, “So, the owners of Blade Runner… allowed a dude who ‘hates dialogue’, to direct a sequel… …to a Film Noir. A genre that depends inordinately on dialogue.”
He concluded, “Modern Hollywood in a nutshell.”
So, the owners of Blade Runner… allowed a dude who “hates dialogue”, to direct a sequel…
…to a Film Noir.
A genre that depends inordinately on dialogue.Modern Hollywood in a nutshell. https://t.co/QNXLPiq5KB
— RazörFist (@RAZ0RFIST) February 26, 2024
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Villeneuve’s comments are also absurd on its face, many of the most iconic movies are known because of their dialogue. One need only look at Peter Jackson’s adaptation of J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings. Some of the most famous lines from the films are directly lifted from Tolkien’s novels and they add to the sound and images seen on screen.
Does the charge at Pelennor Fields have as great an impact without King Theoden’s speech rallying the Rohirrim? No.
One can also look at Star Wars, does the scene of Han Solo getting frozen in carbonite have as much impact without the iconic lines delivered by Carrie Fisher and Harrison Ford? Fisher’s Leia says, “I love you.” Ford’s Solo responds, “I know.” He’s then frozen in carbonite.
The dialogue adds to the emotional impact of the images and the sound.
The list of examples could go on.
And if you want to get to the root of why Denis Villeneuve’s comments are so absurd it’s because he’s ignoring how humans operate. We interact with the world through our five senses: touch, taste, smell, sight, and sounds. Obviously, the moving images and the sound effects tap into two of those senses.
However, man also has internal senses including his intellect. Dialogue helps stimulate that internal sense in a way that a moving picture and sound effects simply cannot. So why on earth would you embrace a medium while ignoring one of the key ways it interacts with its audience? It’s simply absurd.
Timothée Chalamet as Paul Atreides in Dune Part Two (2024), Warner Bros. Pictures
What do you make of RazörFist’s roast of Denis Villeneuve?
